The Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot leaders, meeting during a rainstorm which ended seven years of drought, yesterday broke a long-standing deadlock over negotiations by deciding to resume talks in mid-January.
They also agreed that coming talks should be direct rather than through a UN mediator.
After an hour-long encounter at the home of the UN Secretary General's representative on the island, the President of Cyprus, Mr Glafkos Clerides, and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr Rauf Denktash, accepted a UN invitation to negotiate with "no preconditions" and "all issues on the table".
The talks will continue until "a comprehensive settlement is achieved" in accordance with the proviso that "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed".
To cap the successful summit, Mr Clerides has accepted an invitation to dine tonight with Mr Denktash in his residence in northern Nicosia.
The dinner will mark Mr Clerides' first crossing since 1976 of the Green Line which divides Cyprus.
The breakthrough came after Mr Denktash dropped his two conditions for resuming negotiations: recognition of his breakaway state in the north; and acceptance of his proposal for a settlement based on a confederation of two equal, sovereign states.
With respect to the second demand, the authoritative columnist of the Turkish mainland daily, Milliyet, Sami Kohen, told The Irish Times that Mr Denktash had finessed "definitions" so the usages of "federation and confederation no longer matter".
This crucial softening of the Turkish position amounts to a major political breakthrough for the EU. Over the past year every EU personality and envoy of every nationality visiting Cyprus has made the point that the internationally recognised Republic of Cyprus, which has a Greek Cypriot majority, would gain accession to the EU in the next wave of enlargement whether or not a political settlement is achieved between the island's two communities. By formulating and implementing a firm European policy on this thorny issue, the EU secured a breakthrough without any major input from the US, Turkey's closest ally, which was expected to exert the leverage necessary to secure progress on Cyprus. The breakthrough came two days after Ankara signalled its readiness to drop its objection to the creation of a European rapid reaction force that would use NATO's military facilities.
The Greek Prime Minister, Mr Costas Simitis, welcomed the breakthrough on Cyprus but said a settlement would not be easy. In a statement Ankara said: "Turkey, a NATO member and a candidate to join the EU supports the process" of developing the European force.
Reference to Turkey's EU candidacy seemed to signify that Ankara has chosen to pursue accession rather than sacrifice entry by continuing to block a Cyprus settlement. Divided Cyprus has been a thorn in relations between NATO Greece and Turkey for decades.
The island has been divided since Turkey occupied the north in 1974 following a coup against the republic's President, Archbishop Makarios, engineered by the right-wing Greek military junta.
